Is Robin van Persie about to pull a dramatic and bizarre U-turn to re-sign?

Yesterday, there were rumours abound. Before I get into having a bit of a blather about them, I’d like to make something abundantly clear; I really wouldn’t get your hopes up. With the amount of opportunists out there happy to utilise misinformation and poppycock to gain a bit of attention for themselves, I was expecting stories of this ilk to ‘break’ at some point. For those of you who haven’t heard, check out the tweet picture I took below:

It’s worth mentioning that, although the story was reported by various sources, Sky Sports were very quick to take it off their page once they’d published it. That hardly speaks volumes for it’s authenticity. Of course, for all it’s likely mendacity, it does at the very least make for an interesting point of discussion.

A few days ago, Daniel Cowan – author of North London Is Red and fellow TDKR enthusiast – posted an interesting article about the possibility of Robin “doing a Rooney”. It certainly isn’t beyond the realms of probability that Robin and the feculent, Kees Vos pre-planned his statement to force the club’s hand – either way – or he is feeling a degree of regret having seen it go public and cause a maelstrom of supporter disapproval.

At this juncture, the entire saga is becoming passé and really rather tedious. Like many of you guys, my only real wish at this stage is for a swift resolution. Robin van Persie has dropped several notches in my estimation, and there remains a huge part of me that feels he should leave the club – regardless of any second thoughts on his part. His actions were reprehensible, and they’ll be damage done in some way, shape or form if he does stay at Arsenal. Will others follow his lead? Will offering him a new contract in lieu of such antics only open the floodgates for others to think they can hold the club to ransom should its ideals and ambitions not match their own?

Of course; from a purely footballing point of view, having Robin van Persie at Arsenal next year can only increase our chances of competing for honours. Irrelevant to his behaviour as a person, he is still a world-class player. He’s the club captain, the current PFA Player of the Year and the league’s top goalscorer. If he can continue to replicate that form, he’d be an asset to any side in the world.

Taking those things into account, the question most pertinent is how the fans react? He’s lost a huge amount of support at the club, and received limitless vitriol from Twitter users with a grudge-baring personality and idle fingers. Whether the statement itself was simply an ill-advised attempt to clarify his position to the people that follow him, or a calculated attempt to force his way from Arsenal who wish to hold him to the final year of his contract; things won’t be the same ever again for Arsenal supporters and Robin van Persie.

The question remains; would you be happy to see him stay at Arsenal? Would you prefer to restrict the damage and sell him on?

Personally, I think he has to go. His position is untenable now. Underestimating the damage he’s caused would be a mistake and it’s worth remembering Rooney didn’t take any pot shots at Man United’s ambition or his teammates during his similar incident. Arsenal FC is bigger than Robin van Persie, and without a remarkable set of mitigating circumstances and a grovelling apology – I’d doubt we’ll ever see either – he should be moved on for the sake of all parties concerned. Players shouldn’t ever dictate the way a club is run.

But, all this is probably press-manufactured horseshit, anyway.

That’s me done for today, folks. The comments below await a few of your responses on the subject. Let me know just how you feel.

The twist all in favour of selling Robin seem to miss is if we let him go he would have dictated to the team and the team in typical acquiescence would have complied. Its a delicate balance but any victory for the team can not include another captain leaving.

I absolutely agree with you. Things can never be the same again. Its going to be very difficult if not impossible for the fans to trust RVP again. Those statements were below expectations of most fans. The issue here is not that RVP is leaving but his statements which were highly derogatory about the ambition and management of a footballing organization that stood by him for eight good season but only got one fruitful reward in return. It does not portray gratitude and appreciation in any way. Its like the proverbial statement of bitting a finger that fed one.
Moreso, I agree with you that RVP is very good but he is not indespensable. Who says if he stays he will not pick up injury after playing one or two matches and be out for the rest of the season? Common, let’s sell this guy while we can still catch in on good cash to get some new strong bones and talented players.

“There’ll be damage done to Arsenal in some shape or form if he does stay”.
Never a truer word was said.
The guy has cast the die and the Club must get rid asap.
Preserve harmony at all costs. Remember the last season of Henry and Fabregas….we don’t want a repeat.

Give the guy a break, he’s dedicated his carear to the Arsenal, and never once spoken out of turn. I hope that he is using all his influence to re-inforce the squad, any real leader would put their head on a block to better the team. At the end of the day our team is better with him, so it’d be stupid to want him out. But if he does go then good luck to him, Wenger hasn’t let us down so far and I’m sure he’s not going to this year either. Have some faith in our system gooners don’t be so bloody negative all the time!

Negative you say? Neh…try Realistic. I can’t see such guy wear Arsenal shirt again. The sooner we get him out the better. Sad and never thought I would be saying this but what RVP said puts him OUT in my book and many others I’m sure.

Maybe… he wrote what he wrote on his website, just to set things into motion, to try to persuade AFC board to spend on reinforcements and put our beloved club on its winning tracks again… and maybe he still loves the club as he was saying years back… and maybe his new house is still in London, his kids will still go to the same school as last year… and maybe he didn’t say nothing to reverse that “not signing” statement just because “we” fans attacked him so hard and made him from hero to villain just like snapping our fingers… so u-turn or not, I ain’t mad at him… it’s his life, his opinion,his choices… good or bad for the club, i’d still respect him for what he’s done and i’ll still love Arsenal… once a Gooner, always a Gooner!

It would be much healthier for all players to have him leave now. All the younger players looking up to him will keep questioning the management if they strive to tow the VPersie line, when in fact the young players must be taught the importance of keeping their discipline and sticking to what they are employed to do and leave the management issues to the right people. The Club stood by Van Persie for such a long time, and just one season when he seems to begin to repay the faith the guy decides the management do not know what they are doing? why didnt he ask them what they were doing when he was being nursed in the sick bay for a number of seasons and still being paid his dues?

If RVP forces them to make more essential signings to keep him then fantastic and all power to him – no one else has managed to make them see sense since Dein left. Then for the first time in 5 years we could enter a season with a realistic chance of actually winning something and not blowing it as soon as the inevitable injuries and suspensions kick in

I want to comment on some points made in the article “World class player” My opinion on that differ a little. A world class player is a player that even when hes having a bad day his impact in the game will be felt. I think RVP is a great player but that world class tag is over rating. Also the comment that if he stay with us next season we might win something. That is not really true. He was with us last season, yes he was our top goal scorer, player of the year etc but even if he leave we can still win something next season.
Before RVP made his statement, i have been one of those that felt if we can cash in on him and reinvest the fund into a younger and great striker, it might be better for us.These are my reasons: Can RVP stay fit for another entire season? I doubt. Will RVP be able to put up the same performance as he did last season? That might not be guaranteed. Also i think the captain of the team will be better someone at the back that can lead the team from the back rather than upfront captain. If we can do good business by acquiring the services of either Lewandoski or Papi Cisse from Newcastle, i think it will be a good business to let go of RVP. He has strain his relationship with the supporters and i can see how he can do enough damage control now. Yes some of his comments were eye opener but a will have a serious consequence on the club and influence other players if he resign. I hope we can get Capoue and one creative midfielder. Just look at the effect his comment has had on Walcott contract situation.

Depends on his attitude. If true (big if of course) and he was doing it to try to get the club to be a bit more aggressive in the transfer market by doing all this, and if he really intended to stay all along, then I wouldnt have a problem. Its not like he’s doing it to increase wages.

The attitude I dont like is from these players that either a) want more money than they need or b) think that they are somehow better than our great club after one or two good seasons. It’s clearly not the former in RVPs case and I certainly hope its not the latter

It is crazy how fans react to vanpersis comments, the guy did the right thing. We always blames our players for everything but we don’t realize they deserves some kind of respect for their hard work. Live him alone before him we was saing what he just said for the entire season,it is true word afc needs a uge reinforcement if we are looking some kind of silverware.we been saing that for the longst.so what is the problem our captain Layne out the truth for the managment. If we are looking change the first thing we should do is stay posetive and support rvp amd tell the leaderrs to be more active on the transfer market.

Lets all be totally honest if he come out with this statement in july 2010 we would have all laughed slapped him on the transfer list and sold to the highest bidder. the only things that have changed is since then we have still won sweet fa. we have lost cesc and nasri in similar circumstances plus rvp has scored 59 goals in 81 appearances.

Should that be good enough reasons to allow the captain of the team to show disrespect to the club its manager and supporters.

For me the answer is NO. If i was manager i would be issuing a statement today handing podolski the no.10 shirt and appointing new team captain and vice captain. i would make it public what the asking price is and basically tell rvp that if the price isnt met he will be a squad player for next season or until the club accepts an offer they are happy with. RVP will need to still put in an awesome season to attract a new club at 30 years of age. If his injury problems re-surface he will have shot himself in the foot.

All the arsenal fans in London let us come together and support usmanov,kroenke doesn’t understand the philosophy of our club. Gazidis and peter hillwood must go,we need to fight for our right.we buy expensive ticket every season and our didn’t buy any superstsar to crown the fans effort. May be all the fans should not buy any ticket for one month to protest,by doing this the useless board will know that we need best legs to compete with man shit and chelski.

A very good article, and some well thought out replies… My thoughts are very mixed on this whole RVP issue, I personally would like to see him stay and extend his contract with us, and to see if he can repeat last seasons form, which was simply incredible. There is no denying that an ‘in form’ RVP is an asset to any club, but then there is the question of what some percieve as ‘betrayal and disloyalty’ which does stick in the throat, especially as we (the supporters) have stuck by him during his difficult times with the club… However, as I’ve said before on this board we as fans are a notoriously fickle bunch, and if RVP does decide to stay and extend his contract and starts grabbing a goal a game for us (as he did last season) we will all be singing his praises again by the end of October.

As David Dein stated on Sky Sports earlier in the week, the club need to sort this out quickly, one way or another, ideally by the end of this week if possible as the squad are now getting back for pre-season training and you want them to be settled and focused on the season ahead… Same applies to the Walcott situation, Arsenal simply can’t afford to let this drag on like the Fabregas and Nasri saga did last summer.